Stopped at the Golden Gate : NFC championship: Joe Montana carves up Rams’ zone, completing 26 of 30 passes in the 49ers’ 30-3 victory.

In three weeks, the Rams crisscrossed the country, chewed No-Doz, back-handed alarm clocks, stole games, stole hearts, waxed Buddy Ryan, beat the New York Giants, piled on Flipper Anderson in celebration, gave interviews and mugged for cameras.

For what?

To find out the hard way that Joe was still better than Jim, Eddie better than Georgia, northern better than southern, and San Francisco better than Anaheim.

Some things never change, even if the scores do.

A lot of pie-in-the-sky dreams turned pie in the face for the Rams Sunday as their long-awaited rematch amounted to a Super Bowl rehearsal for the 49ers, who plowed toward back-to-back titles with a 30-3 victory in the NFC championship game before a record crowd of 64,769 at Candlestick Park.

In victory, the 49ers overwhelmed and overpowered, throwing everything they had on a depth chart at the Rams. The 49ers as a team remain an abundance of riches, and quarterback Joe Montana made sure to spread the wealth.

Montana didn’t pick on any Ram in particular, working the field with remarkable precision in a 26-for-30, 262-yard performance that is among the best of his 11-year NFL career.

“The poise of Joe Montana is amazing,” 49er Coach George Seifert said. “It’s just vintage Joe. He just keeps getting better and better.”

Tell the Rams about it. When Montana retires, they will call the limousine and throw the party.

In theory, the Rams might have fared better had starting free safety Vince Newsome been able to play. A sprained ankle kept him out, even after he took a painkilling injection an hour before kickoff. In theory, the loss of defensive right end Mike Piel in the first half--he suffered a dislocated left elbow again--might have slowed a 49er running game that picked its way through the Rams for 179 yards.

But it probably didn’t matter. If Newsome plays, maybe Montana goes 22 for 30. If Piel stays, maybe he knocks 10 rushing yards off Roger Craig’s 93.

As it was, Montana misfired only four times in 30 attempts. And one of his incompletions was deliberate, to stop the clock.

During a 21-point second quarter that buried the Rams, Montana led the 49ers on scoring drives of 89, 27 and 87 yards. His longest completion on the day was only 20 yards. He threw passes to eight receivers.

“I thought we did a good job of getting him to double pump and triple pump,” Ram Coach John Robinson said. “But then he just hit somebody else.”

Montana was worried when his second pass of the game fell incomplete.

“I said ‘Oh, God, no! Is it going to be this way?’ ” Montana said.

Was he serious? The Rams were calling what Montana did a masterpiece. Jim Everett said his only chance was to match brush strokes, and he couldn’t.

“When you’re playing the 49ers, you’d better play a perfect game,” Everett said. “If you don’t, don’t expect to win.”

Everett had his worst performance in memory, completing 16 of 36 passes for 141 yards and three interceptions. Everett, sacked only once when he dropped without being touched, was jittery in the pocket throughout, the result of excellent coverage by the 49ers’ secondary.

“They were well coached and played great,” Everett said. “They took a lot of things away from us.”

Henry Ellard, for instance, who had two catches for 18 yards. And Flipper Anderson, who finished with one reception for 14 yards.

The one ball Anderson almost caught will linger in memory. The Rams, who needed an early lead to build confidence, went ahead 3-0 in the first quarter on a 23-yard field goal by Mike Lansford.

The Rams got the ball back quickly when linebacker Larry Kelm forced and recovered a Brent Jones fumble at their 33.

After moving to the San Francisco 40, the Rams pulled out the perfect play, a fake reverse to Ron Brown. The 49er secondary was sucked in on the play, leaving Anderson wide open down the right sideline.

But it seemed Everett’s pass would never come down.

Anderson knew he was wide open, and waited.

“That one felt like it was in the air a long time,” he said.

It was. San Francisco safety Ronnie Lott, roaming the secondary, sprinted full speed toward Anderson and deflected the pass at the last possible moment.

“It was a Hall of Fame play from a Hall of Fame guy,” Ram cornerback LeRoy Irvin said. “He’s always doing those kinds of things. And he did it again.”

Instead of being ahead, 10-0, the Rams ended up punting.

“At 10-0, it might have been a more competitive game,” Robinson said. “Of course, some people might have said it would have ended up 30-10.”

The 49ers took the lead for good with 11:27 remaining in the half, driving 89 yards in 13 plays, the drive ending on a 20-yard scoring pass from Montana to tight end Jones.

An obvious mix-up in the Rams’ secondary left Jones wide open over the middle. The Rams’ zone parted like the Red Sea.

“I saw two guys leave the office,” Irvin said. “And he (Montana) put it down the middle.”

Everett, in the meantime, was having all kinds of trouble. On the Rams’ first drive of the second quarter, an Everett pass was tipped by corner Don Griffin and intercepted by Tim McKyer, who returned the ball 27 yards to the Rams’ 27.

It was one of several passes Everett wishes he could have retrieved before it left his hand.

“There’s a lot of damn passes I would want back,” Everett said later. “But it’s not a yo-yo, it’s a football.”

The 49ers turned the Everett interception into a touchdown when Craig scored on a one-yard run with 7:11 left to make the score 13-3.

Later in the half, the Rams made a choice they will have to live with for the rest of the winter. Facing a fourth down and two at the 49ers’ 41 with 3:21 left in the half, the Rams elected to punt instead of trying to maintain possession and, more important, keep the ball out of Montana’s hands.

As it was, Montana took control at his own 13 with 3:10 left and conducted a ball-control clinic, driving his team 87 yards in 14 plays with an assortment of short passes. He completed eight passes on the drive for 90 yards--the extra yards the result of a penalty. He used one incompletion on the drive to stop the clock. Montana’s longest pass was 16 yards to Craig until he connected with John Taylor on a 18-yard scoring pass with nine seconds left in the half.

But the 49er attack wasn’t limited to the air. When they wanted to run, they used a new two-tight endformation and knocked the Rams on their heels.

Defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur reached into his bag of tricks and came up empty.

Shurmur stopped the Eagles; Shurmur stopped the Giants, but Shurmur says there’s no stopping the 49ers.

“That football team right now is as good as I’ve ever seen,” he said. “With as good a leader as I’ve ever seen.”

Everett could only stand back in admiration.

“He’s the best at it,” Everett said of Montana. “He’s known for putting points on the board quickly.”

And slowly, too. The 49ers added three Mike Cofer field goals in the second half. The Rams added nothing. The 49ers outgained the Rams in total offense, 442 to 156.

All in all, a nice little season for the Rams. A nice little decade for the 49ers, who now dig into another.

“They are the bullies on our block,” Everett said. “And we got bullied again. Right now, they own the street.”

Ram Notes

Safety Vince Newsome took a pain-killing injection for his sprained ankle, but didn’t play. Newsome said he would have played only if there had been an injury in the Rams’ secondary. . . . Was this the last game for Ram defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur? He is rumored to be a leading candidate for the vacant Phoenix Cardinal job, and said after Sunday’s game that he was interested if the Cardinals were. “We’ll get together if they’re still interested,” Shurmur said. “Last time I heard, they might be. I haven’t had any contact lately.” Shurmur said a decision to leave would be difficult. “It takes some thought to just leave,” he said. “It would be awfully difficult to leave these people.”